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Directors’ Deals: Logistics expert trebles his stake in Forth Ports

GERRY BROWN has bought 5,000 shares in Forth Ports, taking his stake in the FTSE 250-listed group to 7,064. The shares cost £11 each, a total of £55,500.

Brown is senior independent director of the company. He has been a non-executive director since September 2003 so it is intriguing that he has decided to more than treble his holding. Brown has a background in the logistics sector.

Forth Ports operates a number of sites, including Grangemouth, Leith and Dundee in Scotland and Tilbury near London.

Just before Christmas, it warned that full-year profits for 2009 would be at the lower end of expectations due to weak trading in its Nordic recycling division and in its container services operations at Tilbury.

Container volumes were well below the same period in 2008. The full-year performance at Tilbury Container Services, where the group owns a one-third share, will be down significantly on 2008.